Final Report on the Archaeological Site Examination of the Robert Murray Farmhouse Complex on the Gore Place Society Property, Waltham and Watertown, Massachuesetts

The Gore Place Society that owns and manages Gore Place, the 1805-1806 estate of Massachusetts state governor and United States senator, Christopher Gore, is preparing to sell 31.11 acres of its property south of Grove Street in Waltham and Watertown, MA. The Massachusetts Historical Commission holds a preservation restriction on the property and
recommended a cultural resource evaluation to identify potentially significant cultural resources prior to the land sale. A portion of this land was owned by Gore and served for agricultural production. Four acres making up the former Cookson Farm were not owned by Gore, but became part of the estate grounds after the estate was purchased by Theodore Lyman in 1834. Due to considerable disturbance of the sale parcel by filling and leveling for parking lot and
structure construction, only the core of the former Cookson Farm was available for archaeological investigation. Visible cultural resources included the brick foundation of a late eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century farm house that was moved to the former Gore mansion grounds in the late 1930s. This house served as the home of estate gardener, Robert Murray, between 1837 and 1856. Seven members of Murray’s family and nine laborers also lived in the
house. An archaeological site examination (RC#23723) investigated the former farm core with 29 shovel tests and 1, 1x1 m excavation unit that focused on the farm house site and associated terrace as well as surrounding landscape. Identified features include the house foundation, a possible well, possible raised planting bed, cellar hole and midden area. Deep deposits of mixed later nineteenth- and early twentieth-century materials were found around the house and on the
terrace to its west. A buried A-horizon containing late eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century artifacts was present in some tests in the area. A deep midden deposit was found immediately south of the house and an additional midden area identified by artifact scatters and low mounds is present south east of the house. All of the midden deposits appear to be associated with the occupation period of Robert Murray, evidenced by the chronological period of the artifacts and
by the presence of fragmented planting pots. An elevated area of fine sandy loam west of the farm house site is interpreted as a planting bed due to the unique consistency of the soil and low density of artifacts. The former farm core was found to be in an excellent state of preservation. Due to its association with documented estate manager and gardener, Robert Murray, the site maintains the potential to provide data important to the gardening tradition established by Gore
earlier in the century (see Smith and Dubell 2006). In addition the site along with Gore Place has important historic and archaeological research and interpretive values for understanding the vital functional role of staff to maintain the estate as well as the social and physical separation with the owners and their families reflecting the trend in social history to interpret the presence, activities and experiences of domestic managers, servants and laborers at the property. The farm
site was recommended to meet the Criteria for Eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and D as a contributing property to Gore Place. It was recommended that the farm core be included under a protective covenant to ensure the site’s preservation and to include the site, if possible, in an interpretive trail associated with the pond adjacent to the site.